A/N
Purpose: Short Stores is where all my Jack/Ianto centric plot bunnies hang out (and make more plot bunnies.) I needed a place for the other characters' plot bunnies to call their own (because they were thumping on my head), so I created one. Much like Short Stories, this will get new chapters as the Muses inspire me, so it's likely to be sporadic.
Timeline: I'm at the mercy of the Muses… but what I'm expecting is that this will all be post Journey's End (Doctor Who season 4 finale), with just a few set in between Exit Wounds and Journey's End (i.e. Bobby and Wendy fluff before Stolen Earth.)
Genre: The usual… some fluff, some romance, some angst…
Rating: M (but really it will fluctuate between T and M with more on the lower end of the spectrum.)
The usual discliamers apply...
Ch. 1: Rated K+... no bad words even, just Abby / McGee fluff... enjoy!! (slightly re-written after I finished Welcome to Torchwood.)
Chapter One: Roofs
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Sparkling angel, I believe, you were my saviour in my time of need… Sharon den Adel's hypnotic soprano voice drifted out of the CD player and out into the dark windy night.
"Mood music," Abby explained to Tim's perplexed look.
He just smiled and shook his head. "I didn't know a roof needed mood music."
"Timmy," she teased him, "Everything needs mood music." She pulled the shaggy faux fir wrap tighter around her shoulders and joined him near the roof's edge. "So? What do you think?"
"Great view, I guess."
"Timothy McGee," Abby scolded him with a deep frown that someone who didn't know her better may have taken seriously.
"What?"
Abby just giggled and slid her arm into his. They had a perfect view of Cardiff Bay and the night sky was crystal clear and filled with pin-prick stars. And Jupiter. Abby pointed it out to Tim… he didn't tell her he already knew that it was Jupiter and not a star. He doubted that astronomy had ever been her forte… he wondered what had brought up the interest in it now.
She shrugged when he asked. "Jack, I guess."
"Fantastic married Jack," he teased.
Abby smacked his arm.
"Hey!"
She gave him a glower.
"Well it's not like he's gay," he only hoped Ianto's crack about Jack and some ex of his duking it out over the poodle was a joke... but Jack had called Wendy sexy and they weren't talking about her 'human skin' when he'd said it. It hadn't taken more than a couple of days for Tim to get the idea that Jack wasn't kidding when he said 'animal, vegetable or mineral.'
Playing 'never have I ever' with his new teammates at the pub last night had been an experience. Abby, trying to give Jack a break, he was sure, had finally come with 'never have I ever engaged in necrophilia.'
To which Jack sighed and raised his glass. Ianto explained it as a technicality…
"Jack brought me up here after my first week," Abby's voice cut through Tim's thoughts.
"Starting a new tradition?" He asked; it was the end of his first week and he had to admit, he looked up at the night sky an awfully lot differently than he had seven days ago.
In answer to his question, Abby just shrugged. "He said it was pretty normal for someone to come into Torchwood and suddenly see the universe as a hostile, scary place," she turned her face from the stars to the man standing next to her, shivering a little in the chill of the wind coming off the bay. "He promised me that it wasn't, though. I believe him."
"Me too."
"Really?"
It was his turn to shrug. "He'd know, I guess."
Abby smiled, a smile that had nothing to do with Jack Harkness. "I'm glad you're here."
"Me too."
Abby hugged closer. "You're my best friend, you know."
He regarded her a long, thoughtful moment. "Do…" no, start that over, he told himself, "That is. Would you like to go out with me sometime?"
Abby eyed him suspiciously. "We're not talking another 'date' are we?"
"Why not?"
"Timothy."
One word said it all, even if the word wasn't 'no.' "Just dinner… maybe a movie or something," he added with a shrug. "You have my word, I won't make the same spectacular mistake I made last time."
"And what mistake was that?" She asked, just for clarity sake.
"I won't tell you I like you. Even though I do. You're my best friend, too."
She smiled again. "Ok. I guess I can live with that. And dinner. Ianto was telling me about this fantastic Ethiopian spot that just opened up down the street."
"Ethiopian sounds good."
"Good. But we have to skip the movie, there's nothing playing."
"What about the Men in Black III…?" her expression stopped him mid-sentence. "I thought you like Wil Smith."
"I see enough aliens at work, thank you very much."
He couldn't help but laugh, it was such an incredible statement. But it made sense. "Ok. No movie."
"And they call it the cinema over here, Timothy," she told him with a pert little grin. She kept correcting him that it was a mobile not a cell phone and a torch not a flash light, too.
"Duly noted. What do you want to do after dinner?"
Abby looked up at him, her mind wandering back to their first ill-fated attempt at dating. Not that it had been all bad, Tim had surprised her… it really is the quiet ones you've got to watch out for… "Let's start with dinner and see what happens."
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A/N:MiB III is purely fictional; as far as I know, no such project is in the works, I just needed something with aliens in it. Also, I didn't chose the song referenced to at the beginning for any reason other than it's really beautiful and on my playlist of 'writing music' for Torchwood… it happened to be playing when I started writing this.
